© Copyright Australian Museum, 2001 Records of the Australian Museum (2001) Vol. 53: 407–425. ISSN 0067-1975 Larvae and Juveniles of the Deepsea “Whalefishes” Barbourisia and Rondeletia (Stephanoberyciformes: Barbourisiidae, Rondeletiidae), with Comments on Family Relationships JOHN R. PAXTON,1 G. DAVID JOHNSON2 AND THOMAS TRNSKI1 1 Fish Section, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia
[email protected] [email protected] 2 Fish Division, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A.
[email protected] ABSTRACT. Larvae of the deepsea “whalefishes” Barbourisia rufa (11: 3.7–14.1 mm nl/sl) and Rondeletia spp. (9: 3.5–9.7 mm sl) occur at least in the upper 200 m of the open ocean, with some specimens taken in the upper 20 m. Larvae of both families are highly precocious, with identifiable features in each by 3.7 mm. Larval Barbourisia have an elongate fourth pelvic ray with dark pigment basally, notochord flexion occurs between 6.5 and 7.5 mm sl, and by 7.5 mm sl the body is covered with small, non- imbricate scales with a central spine typical of the adult. In Rondeletia notochord flexion occurs at about 3.5 mm sl and the elongate pelvic rays 2–4 are the most strongly pigmented part of the larvae. Cycloid scales (here reported in the family for the first time) are developing by 7 mm; these scales later migrate to form a layer directly over the muscles underneath the dermis. By 7 mm sl there is a unique organ, here termed Tominaga’s organ, separate from and below the nasal rosette, developing anterior to the eye.